HUMBLE TO HANDSOME BALMAIN ARCHITECTURE 1840-1860s

Introduction Stop 1: Bell’s Store 2 Weston Street, c.1888 Arriving by ferry at East Balmain wharf is the best possible introduction to Balmain. From the water, As you arrive at East Balmain wharf, this sandstone you can see the jumble of architectural styles building with its striking stepped gable will catch from every decade since the 1840s. Austere Post- your eye. Though much later than the other Regency stone buildings stand beside ornate late buildings on this tour, Bell’s Store is noteworthy as Victorian stucco terraces, 1960’s brick walk-up a reminder of Balmain’s maritime past, and as an apartment blocks, and 21st century concrete and example of the restoration of a derelict building glass boxes. Balmain’s diverse buildings reflect for community use. its diverse population: it is home to bikers and barristers, movie stars and public housing tenants. Originally a warehouse, Bell’s Store was taken over by Fenwick’s tugboat company, which demolished The ferry trip is a reminder of the importance of the gable to provide a better view of their boats’ water transport to Balmain, especially in early operations. The building became derelict in the colonial days when road transport was slow and 1990s, but was restored in 2012 by Leichhardt hazardous. A steam ferry service from Balmain to Council and the Heritage Council of New South the city began in 1844. Wales. The gable was rebuilt using an old picture as a guide. Why Are Early Balmain Buildings So Plain? The stonework in the façade is elaborate, with rusticated surfaces and a decorative pattern Many of the buildings you will see on this walk formed by using courses of different widths. This reflect the simple styles favoured by the earlier decoration, and the random boulders used in the Georgian and Regency architects, who emphasized side walls contrast with the plain, neatly dressed beauty of proportion, clean lines and an elegant stone blocks you will see at the next stop. simplicity inspired by ancient Greek and Roman buildings. Apart from its aesthetic appeal, [From Bell’s Store, walk up Darling Street. simplicity was also well suited to early colonial The first building on the left is Stop 2] life, when decorative materials and skilled artisans would have been relatively scarce. Stop 2: Shipwright’s Arms On this walk, you will see the transition from the 10 Darling Street, 1844 plain style of the 1840s to the ornate grandeur of the 1860s, reflecting both changing architectural From 1844 to 1966, this was one of Balmain’s many fashion and the growing prosperity of the colony. pubs, strategically placed to serve travellers to and from the city. Its unadorned simplicity is typical of 1840s colonial style. There is no ornamentation The Importance Of Balmain except for the horizontal moulding between the To Our Heritage storeys and the decorative quoins at each end of the Darling Street façade. The asymmetrical In their seminal work on Sydney architecture, arrangement of the windows suggests that Bernard and Kate Smith identified Balmain, function was more important to the builder together with Glebe, Hunters Hill and Paddington, than aesthetics. In verging on the primitive, this as among the historic areas of Sydney which building, like several others on the walk, reflects require the safeguards of special State legislation the rigours of early colonial life. in order to preserve them as an historic heritage for a future and more civilized Australia.

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The sandstone blocks were probably quarried Corrugated iron verandahs were popular as a way of nearby, and the corrugated iron seen on the roof adapting British building styles to a warmer, sunnier was freely available in the colony from the 1850s, climate. The simple chamfered wooden verandah sometimes laid over an earlier roof of wooden posts are typical of the early colonial cottage. shingles. Twelve paned windows enabled well-lit interiors at a time before large sheets of glass [Continue uphill to Stop 5: Cahermore 50 Darling became available. Street, c. 1846]

[Cross Weston Street to Stop 3: Waterman’s cottage Stop 5: Cahermore 12 Darling Street 1841] 50 Darling Street, c. 1846 Stop 3: Waterman’s cottage Yet another former watering hole, Cahermore 12 Darling Street 1841 began life as the Waterford Arms. Like its neighbouring inns, the Unity Hall and Shipwright’s Built by Cornish stonemason John Cavill, this cottage Arms, this simple stone building is utterly plain, was home to McKenzie the waterman, who provided its severe asymmetrical façade relieved only by a ferry service. Like its neighbour the Shipwright’s projecting sills and a narrow stone band dividing Arms, the cottage has a primitive quality. the upper from the lower storey. A single moulding decorates each chimney. The leadlight ‘Cahermore’ Built directly onto the street, the cottage makes above the door is a later addition. Cahermore is the most of its corner position by the placing of another fine example of an early building rescued its entrance and the French window above. The from dereliction: it was restored in the 1970s. stones jutting from the uphill corner show that it was the beginning of a terrace that was never [Continue uphill to the junction of Darling, Nicholson completed. Of special interest is the wooden and Johnston Streets] shingle roof; though common in the 1840s, most were later replaced with corrugated iron or other Stop 6: Former Unity Hall Hotel 49 Darling more modern substitutes. Street, c. 1848. The cantilevered balcony with its simple wooden balustrade, and the louvred French windows are This building is best viewed from across typical of the period. It seems likely that the balcony Nicholson Street. has been rebuilt using an old drawing as a guide: a Strategically occupying its corner, in its simple, photo of the building in the 1970’s shows a French asymmetrical style this former hotel resembles the window above the front door opening onto a much Shipwright’s Arms (Stop 2). The Unity Hall is larger smaller balcony facing the street corner. and more ambitious, however, with its arched door [Walk uphill to Stop 4: Cottages with Scottish and window and row of dormers. dormers 26-28 Darling Street, 1840] Built for innkeeper Thomas Acton, the Unity Hall Hotel had nine rooms with a detached kitchen, Stop 4: Cottages with Scottish dormers stables and a well. The name Unity Hall (and the 26-28 Darling Street, 1840 sign on the Darling Street façade, ‘Oddfellows Hall’) refer to its role as a meeting place for a Dormer windows, usually perched halfway up the Friendly Society, the Balmain Manchester Unity slope of the roof, are common in Balmain as a way Independent Order of Oddfellows. of lighting the roof cavity for use as another storey. However, this pair of semi-detached cottages is a After ceasing to operate as an inn, the Hall was rare example of the Scottish style of dormer, with used for various commercial purposes. A plaque window-sills cut into the façade below the eaves. indicates that it was restored in 1989-90.

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[Optional detour: Energetic walkers may wish to Stop 8: St Mary’s Church walk down Johnston St and then into Paul St to view 85 Darling Street,1843 some 1840s sandstone cottages] The original, smaller St Mary’s Church was [Continue westwards along Darling Street to Stop 7: designed by Sydney’s great exponent of the Gothic Corner shop, 90 Darling Street c.1860] Revival style, Edmund Blacket. All that remains of Blacket’s design is the chancel, which retains the Stop 7: Corner shop, atmosphere of a mediaeval English village church, 90 Darling Street c.1860 with stone-flagged floor, hammer-beam roof and Decorated Gothic tracery. This former bootmaker’s shop, almost twenty years later than the humble Waterman’s cottage down Blacket’s church soon proved too small for the the hill, shows far greater refinement and attention growing congregation, so in 1858 most of it was to detail, from the dentillated brick chimneys to demolished and enlarged, using (so the story goes) the rusticated stone quoins and elegant cast-iron cheap, inferior sandstone, with the unfortunate balustrading. The façade is perfectly symmetrical, results that you see today. The stone has weathered and there is a restrained use of ornamentation, badly, the decorative pinnacles have been lost, and for example in the use of tiny brackets (corbels) to the spire was demolished in the 1940s for fear that support the generous stone windowsills. it might otherwise collapse. Metal caps have been fitted on the walls and some of the buttresses to The ground-floor walls are of stone, and the first protect the stone from further damage. floor walls are brick. The use of different wall materials is common in Balmain’s early colonial Architecturally the building lacks unity: although buildings, with expensive stone used for an Weaver and Kemp retained Gothic elements in impressive street facade, and cheaper materials their design of the rebuilt church, the large, later (brick or timber) for the less visible side or rear walls. nave, with its simple lancet windows, is out of proportion to the small, finely crafted chancel, The relatively plain cast-iron balustrading, and flat and from inside the church the join between openwork iron columns are typical of the 1860s: the old and new buildings is clearly visible in the later in the century the more ornate ‘iron lace’ stonework of the north wall. replaced this earlier, simple style. The original roof has been replaced with modern tiles. The church is usually closed except for Sunday services (see the church website for details). The [Energetic walkers may enjoy a detour down font, chancel chair and reading desk are by Blacket. picturesque Datchett Street to see number 12, ‘Iver’, listed in the Local Environment Plan as ‘significant as [Continue west along Darling Street to Jubilee Place. possibly the earliest surviving timber house (1840-43) Turn left into Jubilee Place, and cross Ewenton Park] in Balmain, and in the Municipality’] Stop 9: Ewenton, 1854; 1860, 1872 additions [Continue westward along Darling Street to Stop 8: St Mary’s Church 85 Darling Street,1843. (Chancel: The economy of the colony boomed in the 1850s, Edmund Blacket 1843. The rest of the church: following the Gold Rush, and Ewenton House Weaver and Kemp 1858)] reflects this burgeoning prosperity. The handsome mansion is something of an architectural mélange, which is not surprising since it was built in stages. In 1854-5, ‘Blake Vale’, a simple, single-storeyed house with basement was built for Robert Blake, a quartermaster turned civilian sheriff and developer.

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In 1856, Major Ewen Wallace Cameron, a successful Typical of this style are the bare stone walls, stone- businessman bought the house and renamed it flagged verandah and louvred French windows. Ewenton. Cameron engaged the architect James The Tuscan columns and classical pediment at MacDonald to add an elaborate entrance portico the front entrance are also typical of the 1840s: and a stone upper storey with bay and pedimented however, a photo c. 1890 shows the verandah with windows and a slate roof. As well as enjoying the striped awning and flat, not cylindrical, columns. In fine views from the site, Cameron benefited from this photo, the villa’s roof appears to be of slate or easy access to the city from his own wharf. wood shingles. As Cameron’s family grew, more space was Built by the Hon. Edward Hunt MLC, the villa was needed so in 1872 a three-storey wing was added. leased in the 1880s by Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of The finished result is a massive building of high NSW and “Father of Federation”. quality stone-work with unusual detailing that defies classification into any single architectural [Turn right into Ewenton St.Stop 11: 3 Ewenton St style. Facing the building, the left (southern) side c.1852, best seen from Wallace St] is predominantly Italianate, with Italianate classical elements (the windows, roof and pediment. The Stop 11: 3 Ewenton St c.1852 ground–floor arches and the oriel window suggest a Moorish influence. The central oriel window is rare The original stone building, with its typical in Sydney buildings, as are the triple round-headed verandah and louvred French windows, appears to windows on the left of the façade, surrounded have a later, two-storey addition at the Ewenton by stone architraves and surmounted by a boss. Street end. The dormers with their scalloped The right hand (northern) side remains basically bargeboards hint at the Victorian mediaeval revival. Georgian with the exception of the oriel window. [Continue along Ewenton Street to Charles Street. From 1892 the building became a boarding house, Turn left into Charles Street] and was then used for industrial purposes. It fell into disrepair in the 1950s and was damaged by Stop 12: 6 Charles Street, 1839 fire in 1980. Under an agreement relating to the development of the surrounding land, the Lend Lease This is of interest as the oldest brick building still Corporation and the specialist heritage architect, standing in Balmain. Designed by John Gibb and Clive Lucas, restored the exterior in the 1980s. The built by Robert Blake, this simple, symmetrical, interior was restored by the present occupier. beautifully proportioned bungalow calls to mind Bernard and Kate Smith’s description of the [Follow Grafton St to the West, via Stop10: Hampton Colonial Georgian cottage style with its “agreeable Villa 12b Grafton St, 1847-1849] simplicity and sure sense of proportion”. Note the plain openwork iron verandah columns typical of Stop 10: Hampton Villa the early colonial period. The simple geometric 12b Grafton St, 1847-1849 forms contrast sharply with the ornate iron “lace” and fluted columns that became popular in the Modestly elegant, Hampton Villa contrasts sharply second half of the nineteenth century. with its larger, later and more ornate neighbour, [From Charles Street, turn left down Wallace Lane to Ewenton. The villa exemplifies the Post- Regency Wallace Street. To your right, across Wallace Street, style described by Bernard and Kate Smith as stands Clontarf Cottage] “possessing clean lines and classical proportions in the treatment of windows and doors, a dominating rectangularity and broad eaves line.”

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Stop 13: 4 Wallace St: Stop 15: 177 Darling Street, 1843 Clontarf Cottage 1844 This tiny sandstone cottage reminds us of the This low-set cottage embodies the essence of period’s obsession with classical architecture: early colonial simplicity. Almost completely lacking a miniature pediment, resting on brackets, in ornamentation, the building’s appeal relies on surmounts the doorway. Like many in Balmain, symmetry, proportion and the contrasting textures this cottage seems impossibly small to modern of stone, wood and iron. Its only adornments are the Australians accustomed to living in some of the striped awning and the austere chimney mouldings. world’s largest houses. Its size is a reminder that personal space is a relatively recent luxury. In the Typical of the style are the low stone flagged nineteenth century even wealthy children shared verandah and the symmetrically placed chimneys their nursery bedroom, while in poorer families at either end of the hipped roof. Built by Blake, the two or more children shared a bed. cottage was bought by Leichhardt Council in 1974, and as a result of public protests it was restored for community use in 1988. Stop 16: The Watch House 179 Darling Street, 1854, 1881 additions. At the western end of Wallace Street, turn right into Adolphus Street and continue to the corner Opening hours: with Darling Street. Look downhill across Darling The Watch House is usually open on Saturday and Street at the shops on the opposite side. Sunday, 10am - 5pm for art exhibitions except for April, September and January when it is open on Stop 14: Shops Saturdays from 11:30am to 4pm. See the Balmain Association’s website for information about the 153-157 Darling Street, 1850s exhibition programme. 153 Darling Street, c. 1850, a severely plain and Begun by Edmund Blacket in 1852, the original single- utilitarian building, was once Gourlay’s grocery shop. storey Watch House was completed by Kemp in 1854, The similarly plain 155 Darling Street (c.1858) with four rooms: a guard room, a constable’s room, sports a raised moulding dividing the upper and and male and female cells. In 1881, an upper storey lower storeys, and 157 Darling Street (c.1858) was added, and two cells at the rear, each with its is the most ambitious of the three, with arched own privy and exercise area. windows, projecting voussoirs (wedge-shaped Watch houses were necessary in the colony for short stones forming the arch) and hints of classical prison terms, because of the long distances between style in the mouldings around the door and lower gaols. The building was used as a lock-up until the window. A faded sign on the side wall testifies to 1920, when it became home to the local policeman, its days as a bakery. his wife and their twelve children. The old cells were [Walk uphill along Darling Street past Stop 15: used as bedrooms. 177 Darling Street, 1843] In the 1960’s, derelict and no longer needed by the police, the building was scheduled for demolition. The Balmain Association, formed in 1965 to maintain the historical value of the area, joined forces with the National Trust in a fight to preserve the building. As a result of public pressure the NSW Government transferred the building to the National Trust, which leases it to the Balmain Association as its headquarters. The Association maintains the building and manages it as an exhibition space.

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The building exemplifies the simplicity of early [Walk uphill to Stop 18: Balmoral House 46 colonial buildings, with the later upper storey Waterview Street, c.1855, balcony above the portico designed in keeping with the early Victorian lower added 1969] storey. The only decorations are the minimal chimney mouldings, the raised course between Stop 18: Balmoral House upper and lower storeys and the bas-relief stone frames around the windows. However, the 46 Waterview Street, c.1855 building’s austerity is relieved by the colours and Built for Balmain’s first doctor, Frederick Harpur, markings of the bare stone walls, and the ghostly Balmoral House is a fine example of a Victorian stripes visible on the awning. Georgian villa. Its basic structure follows the With its slate and iron roofs, copper guttering, conventions of the times: two storeys, five upstairs wooden verandah posts and twelve-paned windows, two downstairs windows either side of windows, the Watch House provides a sampler of a central front door, chimneys at either end of a early colonial style and materials. hipped roof. The architect Edmund Blacket’s home, Bidura House is on a similar scale and follows an [Walk uphill to the corner of Colgate Avenue and almost identical pattern. Darling Street, where a memorial marks the former site of St Andrew’s Church] Harpur, however, had grander aspirations than Blacket. Unlike the humbler brick of Bidura, At the rear of the Watch House, note the stone Balmoral House proudly displays its expensive privy (known locally as a dunny). Dunnies provided stone walls, and its conventional twelve-paned sanitation in Balmain until 1913, by which time windows are given a touch of grandeur with nearly all properties were connected to the Bondi ornamental lintels supported by stone brackets Ocean Outfall Sewer. A few examples survive in above each window, and decorative stonework the inner suburbs of Sydney, but most are of brick panels below the sills. and corrugated iron, rather than stone and slate. In spite of its restrained ornamentation, [Walk down Colgate Avenue, and turn left at Balmoral House, like Bidura, relies mainly on Caroline Street. Turn right at Waterview Street for harmonious proportions for its beauty. In this, Stop 17: 49 Waterview Street, c.1855] as well in its ornamentation, it harks back to the buildings of ancient Greece which inspired so Stop 17: 49 Waterview Street, c.1855 many colonial architects. [Walk uphill to the junction of Waterview Street Built by Captain W. H. Sawyer, whose wharves and Queen’s Place] occupied the waterfront, this cottage appears originally to have been a typical early colonial bungalow, symmetrically designed with a window on either side of the front door, and a chimney at each end of the roof. The façade of the apparent extension (on the uphill end) has been built of sandstone to blend seamlessly with the original building. This approach differs from the current vogue for adding extensions to old buildings in a contrasting modern style. The ornate cast iron “lace” is typical of the later Victorian love of elaborate ornamentation, when the aesthetic pendulum swung away from early colonial simplicity.

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Stop 19: The Old Post Office Stop 21: St Andrews Church corner of 1 Queens Place, c. 1850 Curtis Road and Darling Street, 1855. Organ: J. W. Walker, 1867. This began as a grocer’s shop which incorporated a Post Office. It provided postal services until 1887 Dseigned by Goold and Field (although the church when the present, far grander Post Office opened hall,1871, is by James McDonald). Less ambitious at the corner of Darling and Montague Streets. in scale and complexity than the Campbell Street Although it is a simple, utilitarian commercial church, this building is in Decorated Gothic style, building like those at the beginning of this walk, with mullioned windows and trefoil tracery. As in it is designed with careful attention to proportion the Campbell Street church, the spire is octagonal and symmetry. The blind window (unusual in above a rectangular entrance porch: however, Balmain) above the corner door appears to have St Andrews’ spire is smaller and plainer, and the been added purely for aesthetic effect. A low porch has a single door rather than the triple doors parapet adds height to the façade. seen at the later church. [Walk along Queens Place past 5-9 Queens Place The church is open during the Saturday market, (c.1850)] giving visitors a chance to admire the fine cedar joinery and beautifully decorated organ. These cottages are noteworthy because of their use of stone and timber: evidently the builder Public transport intended to build a terrace of stone houses (hence the “saw toothed” masonry edge) but abandoned To leave Balmain from St Andrews Church, either this plan. The project was finished with a pair of cross Darling Street to the bus stop beside Gladstone tiny timber cottages. Park for buses to the city, or walk down Curtis Road and turn right into Mort Street, which leads downhill Stop 20: The Presbyterian Church to the Thames Street Wharf for ferries to the city, Cockatoo Island and Woolwich. Campbell Street,1868. Alternatively, take a bus from the stop outside the The largest of the three churches on this walk, church back to East Balmain wharf for ferries to the Campbell Street church was designed by Darling Harbour and Circular Quay. the Balmain architect James McDonald in the Early English Gothic Revival style. In spite of (Note that ferries may be infrequent, the plainness of the Early English style, with its especially at weekends). simple lancet windows, minimal buttresses and unadorned pinnacles, the church has a relatively complex structure, in contrast to the barnlike simplicity of St Mary’s (Stop 8). From the street you can observe the complex roofline, clearly defining the nave and two side aisles. The octagonal spire springs from a rectangular base above the main entrance, which is buttressed by two porches entered by smaller doors. The size of the church and the adjacent church hall and manse (number 11 Campbell Street) suggest the importance of colonial Balmain to the Presbyterian Church. Inside, the organ takes pride of place at the East end, its charmingly decorated pipes displayed in a fine cedar case.

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SUPPLEMENTARY INFO ROOFS STONE From the 1790s, wood shingle and clay tiles were used for roofing, but the wood rotted, and the clay Sandstone was readily available to early colonial tiles were heavy. builders and was often quarried on-site in Balmain, where rocky outcrops are still visible to this day. It In 1829, the British invention, corrugated iron, was could be carved decoratively (as in Ewenton - Stop patented. It became popular in Australia from the 9 - and the façade of Bell’s Store), worked into 1830s and was sometimes laid directly on top of plain dressed blocks (as in the Shipwright’s Arms- the shingles. Corrugated iron was relatively cheap, Stop 2) or used to build a rubble wall (as in the side durable, light, quick to install, and could be bent walls of Bell’s Store). Burnt oyster shells from the into a variety of shapes- bull-nosed, convex, ogee, harbour shores provided mortar. eyelash, and barrel vault shapes, for example, can all be seen in Balmain. Verandah roofs were often Sydney sandstone varies considerably according painted with stripes to mimic a canvas awning- as to its location, with some types liable to weather in Clontarf Cottage, Stop 13. badly. St Mary’s Church Balmain (Stop 8) is an example of a stone building which has suffered Slate was imported to the colony from 1837, and in this way. For more information about types of was a more expensive and labour intensive roofing Sydney sandstone, see The Rocks of Glebe Point material, thus suited to buildings with aspirations to grandeur, such as Ewenton (Stop 9). Good-quality sandstone soon became expensive. To satisfy the demand for the prestige of stone at a lower cost, builders used brick walls coated ALTERATIONS AND MODERNISATION in stucco grooved to create the illusion of stone Many, possibly most of Balmain’s old buildings blocks. Later brick buildings often rise from an have been altered- to make them larger (additional exposed stone base course. The stone functioned wings, storeys, attic conversions), better lit (larger as a damp-proof course for about 80 years, after windows, skylights) or more modern (ceramic which the damp would rise into the walls. tiled roofs instead of slate, new doors, aluminium- framed windows, modern balustrading and WINDOWS AND GLASS fencing, indoor lavatories instead of outhouses at the bottom of the garden). Some of the additions/ Plate glass was first produced by the French, in the alterations are designed to blend in with the late seventeenth century, although the Romans existing building, by using the same materials and had pioneered a primitive version in ancient times. shapes as in the original (for example, the Watch By the 1840s plate glass sheets two feet (70 cm.) House, Stop 16): others are designed to contrast long were becoming available, but many of the completely with the original. Sometimes these buildings on this walk retain the Georgian style contrasting additions are discreetly tucked away at twelve-paned rectangular windows, which let in the rear of the house, but sometimes they strike plenty of light without the need for expensive a jarring note in the streetscape because of their large plate glass sheets. Partially glazed French size or incongruity. In fact Balmain has long been doors with louvred shutters were also popular in characterized by a diversity of size, quality and this period. style of housing, unlike (for example) Paddington and Glebe where there are more uniform streetscapes of terraced houses.

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There has been a long-standing tension between WALLS demolitionists and conservationists: sometimes the conservationists win (as in Ewenton and the Balmain As well as stone (discussed elsewhere), bricks were Watch House) and sometimes the demolitionists made in the colony from 1788. Until 1870, stock succeed (Balmain’s first house, Birchgrove House, bricks were handmade, in moulds. These small, built in 1810, was demolished in 1967 to make way soft, bricks in beautiful colours were sometimes for a block of flats at 67 Louisa Road). left bare (as in Hyde Park Barracks, Macquarie Street, in the city) and sometimes covered in The cost of maintaining old buildings and the render and limewash. The render protected incentive to profit by redeveloping historic sites the soft bricks from the elements, and in 1970s mean that without government intervention, was often removed by enthusiastic renovators, Sydney’s early buildings will gradually disappear. resulting in the decay of the sought-after For information on Leichhardt Council’s sandstock bricks. conservation policy, see the Leichhardt Council Timber weatherboard (clapboard) was another Local Environment Plan (LEP) 2000. Most, if not commonly–used material throughout the 1800s. all the buildings on this walk are listed in the LEP’s Though relatively cheap, available and easy to Schedule 2 of Heritage Buildings. use, it is liable to rot or termite attack if it is not maintained diligently. An early surviving example FRIENDLY SOCIETIES (c.1850) is visible on this walk in 5-9 Queens Place.

These originated in England (hence the name CLASSICAL INFLUENCE Balmain Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows, which refers to the English city) British architecture in the early years of the 19th and were brought to Australia by the colonists. century was heavily influenced by principles, styles They provided an early form of insurance; and shapes originating in ancient Greek and Roman members would make weekly contributions to a buildings. This influence is widely visible in many fund, which could be drawn on in case of illness, of Sydney’s nineteenth century buildings, both in unemployment or other hardship. their proportions and in features such as Doric, Ionian and Corinthian columns and pilasters, and The Australian Unity organization still operates triangular pediments above doors and windows. today, providing its members with healthcare, The early colonial architecture was characterised retirement and financial services. by a restrained use of classical features – for example, plain Doric columns rather than the fluted CAST IRON Corinthian style with intricately carved capitals. Cast iron balustrading was popular in British Georgian houses, and was imported to the colony until 1843, when the Russell Foundry opened in Sydney. As the 1800s progressed, the style changed from simple geometric railings to increasingly ornate ‘lace’ panels as seen on late Victorian Italianate terraced houses in many parts of Sydney.

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CHIMNEYS VERANDAHS Coal was first mentioned in the colony in 1797, Verandahs offered a simple and effective way to and is widely available in the Sydney basin, adapt English building styles to hotter, sunnier including Balmain. Together with wood, coal was conditions. They could be set low on the ground, an important source of heat- hence the chimneys and paved with stone flags (as at Clontarf Cottage, on colonial buildings. Chimneys of the 1840s Stop 13) or elevated to form an imposing podium were very plain, usually adorned by nothing more for a grander building (Balmoral House, Stop 18). than a single narrow horizontal band (as in the The corrugated iron roof kept the rooms cool and Waterman’s Cottage, Stop 3, and Cahermore, provided a sheltered outdoor space. Stop 5): however, as the century progressed, they became more and more ornate (for example, The verandah posts in early colonial buildings Ewenton, Stop 9). ranged from simple stop-chamfered timber, (Clontarf Cottage, Stop13) to stone or wooden Doric columns- easily produced with a lathe- as at EDMUND BLACKET 1817-1883 Balmoral House, Stop 18. Flat cast iron posts were also used (6 Charles St, Stop 12). Born in England, as a young man Blacket spent a year sketching and recording details of English mediaeval church architecture, before emigrating to New South Wales in 1842. He served as Colonial Architect from 1849-1854, when he resigned to work on buildings for the new University of Sydney. Later his son Cyril joined him to form Blacket and Son. Not surprisingly, given his background, Blacket favoured the Gothic styles he had studied in his youth. Sydney abounds in his work: notable examples are the neogothic Quadrangle at Sydney University, St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, and the Colonial Regency style Bidura, 357 Glebe Point Road, Blacket’s home. For more detail on Blacket and a critical assessment of his work, see the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

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